David Moody's Blog, page 60

Recommended Reading: Dead World Resurrection

Wind the clock back a decade, and you’d have found far fewer zombie novels on the shelves than today. There was just a handful of us telling tales of the undead back then… myself, Brian Keene, David Wellington, and Joe McKinney to name but a few. Back to today, and it’s great to see all of my old undead compatriots still producing plenty of top-quality horror fiction. Joe, in particular, has been consistently prolific.

I was honoured a while back to be asked to write an introduction for DEAD WORLD RESURRECTION: THE COLLECTED ZOMBIE SHORT STORIES OF JOE MCKINNEY and I of course jumped at the chance. In this collection (which was recently released by Journalstone), all of Joe’s zombie shorts are gathered together. I hardly need to do the hard sell, do I? This is definitely a book I’d recommend you pick up, and I’ll quote myself as proof (if that’s not too pretentious): “In this collection, by writing about the living dead, Joe has reminded us what’s so great about being one of the living. I hope you enjoy reading (or re-reading) these stories as much as I have.”

DEAD WORLD RESURRECTION is available now.

Recommended Reading: Dead World Resurrection is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad

I mentioned last year that I’d been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone… with this commission I couldn’t have been much further from the kind of stories I usually write: different genre, different era, different setting, different pace. Daunting, yet very rewarding.

I’m very pleased to announce that my Greenland-set story A CONCURRENCE OF COINCIDENCES will appear in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ABROAD, published by Constable & Robinson in the UK on 2 April, and by Running Press in the US on 14 July.

Edited by the great Simon Clark, the book contains stories by Andrew Darlington, Nev Fountain, Paul Kane, Johnny Mains, William Meikle, David Moody, Mark Morris, Cavan Scott, Stephen Volk and many more.

In this one-of-a-kind collection, Sherlock Holmes travels to the far ends of the Earth in search of truth and justice. Written in Sir Conan Doyle’s unique style, a host of talented, contemporary writers take the world’s greatest detective on a wide range of new and exciting adventures from searing deserts to crime-ridden backstreets in Paris, aboard ships in an exotic sea to the private quarters of a sultan’s palace, and into the long, Arctic night.

The book is already available to pre-order. Here are a few handy links: AMAZON.COM / AMAZON.CO.UK / The Book Depository / Waterstones / Barnes & Noble / Indiebound. ebook links and a full list of contents to follow shortly.

The Mammoth Book of Sherlock Holmes Abroad is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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28 Days Later

As a responsible father, I think it’s important to ensure my kids have a solid all round education. As such, I see it as my duty to introduce them to cultural milestones. Last night I did just that (I am being sarcastic here, by the way), sitting down with the girls for a family viewing of Danny Boyle‘s seminal 28 DAYS LATER. It had been many years since I’d seen the film, and I was interested to see how it stood up today: what was considered ground-breaking in 2002 might have appeared cliched today. To my surprise, I think I enjoyed the movie more than I ever have done.

A quick glance at my Recommendations page revealed that I’ve never written about this hugely influential movie for this site, so I thought I’d remedy that right now. As usual, a brief synopsis and trailer follows. Click on the link for my thoughts.

An infirmary patient awakens from a coma to an empty room…in a vacant hospital…in a deserted city. A powerful virus, which locks victims into a permanent state of murderous rage, has transformed the world around him into a seemingly desolate wasteland. Now a handful of survivors must fight to stay alive, unaware that the worst is yet to come…

Make no mistake, 28 DAYS LATER is a landmark film. In 108 frenetic minutes, Danny Boyle dragged the zombie genre kicking and screaming (and vomiting blood) into the 21st century. Let’s not reignite the whole ‘are they really zombies if they’re not technically dead’ argument because it’s pointless, instead let’s just accept that these fast-moving, zombie-like infected were bloody terrifying, and unlike anything we’d seen previously.

The film won me over immediately with it’s post-prologue introduction. Echoing THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (our protagonist wakes alone in hospital to find the world has gone to hell around him), it’s a brutally effective opening. The scenes set in deserted London work particularly well as Jim (Cillian Murphy) wanders alone in front of sun-drenched, rubbish-strewn national landmarks. With barely any dialogue, Boyle brilliantly sets the tone for his apocalypse.

The introduction of the infected is also worthy of note. The first of them we see is a priest, and instead of the slow, lumbering, clumsy enemy we were used to back then, instead we were presented with a furious, fast-moving, constantly twitching, blood-spewing creature. And for a while, the pace doesn’t let up. Boyle further plays with another convention by almost immediately killing off a main character we presume is going to be an impervious, alpha male survivor. Make no mistake, in this vision of the apocalypse, no one is safe.

28 DAYS LATER is not free from cliche by any stretch of the imagination. On more than one occasion my kids bemoaned characters who’d just strolled down a dark corridor by themselves, or who were standing under a dripping infected body… The thing is, the premise and look of the film is so strong and individual that it doesn’t suffer when it does stray into familiar horror movie territory.

Visually, the film works well. Filmed with a low-fi look using pretty standard (for the time) video, the blurring, pixellation and lack of sharpness adds to the atmosphere. The infected are filmed with short, sharp, over-cranked shots, emphasising their speed and unpredictability. The cast is strong, and the John Murphy soundtrack is a corker (I still listen to it regularly when I’m writing – check out his SUNSHINE soundtrack too while you’re at it).

My problems with the film always stemmed from the final act, and though I still feel the film loses steam a little as soon as the survivors come across Christopher Eccleston and his band of barely-controlled, sex-starved soldiers, this time around I enjoyed these scenes more than I remembered. Perhaps it was because after such an original opening, the film became somewhat formulaic. The characters had been free to roam through a unique post-apocalyptic world, only to be confined to a limited area for the climactic scenes. It felt strangely subdued in comparison to the sprawling openness and isolation of the rest of the film. I still struggle with that ending (which I won’t spoil in case you haven’t seen it). I guess I’m of the opinion that such a bleak and nihilistic story deserves a bleak and nihilistic conclusion, but that’s probably just me!

All in all, though, 28 DAYS LATER remains a classic in my opinion. I’ve a lot to thank Danny Boyle for… the film was a shot in the arm to the zombie sub-genre, which exploded just as I released the first version of AUTUMN. Although the only real similarity was the UK setting, an incredible number of people started mentioning them in the same breath, and the publicity that generated was very welcome indeed. I remember an online article comparing the two called ‘Didn’t I just read this movie?’ and early HATER reviewers thought it couldn’t possibly be coincidence that the main character’s name was Danny. Don’t even start me on the 28 WEEKS LATER/ AUTUMN urban legend. That’s a story for another time. I’ll see if the kids will sit down with me for another couple of hours of infected fun next weekend!

In the meantime, if you somehow haven’t yet seen 28 DAYS LATER, please rectify that immediately. You won’t regret it.

28 Days Later is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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Signed books back in stock

Signed copies of STRANGERS are back in stock over at www.infectedbooks.co.uk. They’re disappearing fast (again) so please order quickly if you want one.

I know it’s probably the wrong side of Christmas to be telling you this, but there are a few other interesting things available at Infected Books right now. There’s a copy of the rare and very limited hardcover edition of TRUST, and copies of my last zombie-release LAST OF THE LIVING. If you use the exclusive This is Horror discount code, you can also get the limited hardcover of AUTUMN: THE HUMAN CONDITION for the ridiculously low price of £10 (with free delivery if you’re in the UK).

You can find the This is Horror discount code on the JOE & ME free download page. This seems like an ideal opportunity to mention that I’ll be taking part in a live This is Horror podcast in February. If you have any questions, email them to the address on the download page.

Signed books back in stock is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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The Ultimate Undead Collection

I’m pleased to report that AUTUMN: THE HUMAN CONDITION will be available as part of the ULTIMATE UNDEAD COLLECTION – an ebook release which includes a huge 10 books (more than 2500 pages) of zombie goodness for the ridiculous price of $0.99!

The collection – which also features Joe McKinney, Tim Long, Shawn Chesser, Bobby Adair and Michaelbrent Collins amongst others – is released on 31 January. You can pre-order your download now from AMAZON.COM or AMAZON.CO.UK.

The Ultimate Undead Collection is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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The Wave

A lesser-known movie recommendation for a lazy Sunday afternoon…

My family has a thing about Psychology. My wife has three degrees in the subject (yes, three!), one of my daughters is following in her footsteps having recently graduated with first class honours, and another of the girls has just embarked on her first Psychology qualification. Me? I’m interested too, but in a far less academic way. I’ve said it countless times, but I’ll say it again anyway – I’m a people watcher. I’m not much interested in who did what study or experiment or anything like that, I just like to sit back and watch what happens when people are forced to endure extreme circumstances (ie, in most of my books, the end of the world).

This week I want to recommend a film that should appeal to the psychology academics in your life (like my missus) as well as the dystopian thrill-seekers (like me). THE WAVE (DIE WELLE) is a 2008 German production directed by Dennis Gansel and based on a 1981 novel by Todd Strasser. A high school teacher’s unusual experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.

Teacher Rainer Wenger (Jürgen Vogel), an anarchist, is forced to teach a class on autocracy. His students refuse to believe that a dictatorship could be established in modern-day Germany, so Wenger establishes an experiment to prove them wrong. He implements a set of strict rules and protocols for the classroom, orders the students to wear a distinctive uniform and greet each other with a specific salute… within a few days, a movement known as the Wave is established, and the same students who doubted Wenger’s original lesson find themselves driven to shocking extremes by their membership of the movement.

THE WAVE is an intriguing movie. Very well made, with a great soundtrack and strong all-round performances, it’s a thought-provoking and disturbing tale given real relevance by its German setting. I’ve long been interested in the question of perspectives in conflict: Why do people act in certain ways? What difference does a uniform make? How can we ever expect to achieve lasting peace when everyone believes what they’re doing is for the right reasons? It’s something I considered at length in the HATER series, and it’s an issue given a far more realistic portrayal here.

This isn’t a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination. The conclusion is disappointing (though I can’t decide whether it was overblown or underdone?), but it’s well worth your time. If you’re interested, an earlier made-for-TV version of the story can be found on YouTube:

THE WAVE is available on DVD here, and I recommend you check it out. Thanks to Marc for the tip!

The Wave is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. I thought I’d kick off 2015 with a quick look back at my 2014 releases (just in case you missed any), and a peek at my plans for 2015. Despite being a pig of a year for me on many levels, I was surprisingly productive, releasing two full-length novels (STRAIGHT TO YOU and STRANGERS), a zombie novella collection (LAST OF THE LIVING, which included ISOLATION and THE COST OF LIVING along with a number of other shorts), and the long-overdue limited edition hardcover of AUTUMN: AFTERMATH.

I also managed a couple of short stories too, most notably THE LUCKY ONES (which appeared in DEAD WATER), THE DEVIL (from THE BLACK FANG BETRAYAL) and THE DEAL – a story which is exclusively available to newsletter subscribers. And, of course, there’s the free audio download of JOE & ME.

So what does 2015 hold? There’s a lot being planned behind the scenes, and I thought I’d pile the pressure on myself by announcing the major projects I’m working on this year. Notice there are no timescales quoted here (I never seem to keep to them anyway!) but this is the order I’m tackling these novels.

KAI

My first middle-grade novel. Think ET meets GODZILLA and you’re halfway there.

THE SPACES BETWEEN: ELYSIAN FIELDS

The first book in my long-teased horror/ science-fiction/ noir crime series. If you’ve not heard me talking about this one before, here’s a quick tease: Several years ago London was destroyed in a white-hot nuclear haze. Millions of people were displaced, and huge numbers ended up in rapidly constructed newcities like Elysian Fields. Designed to house around one hundred thousand, the population of Elysian Fields is several times that. It’s a dangerous, sprawling hell-hole of a place ruled by gangs, violence and fear. When a prominent business leader’s son disappears, social worker Greg Dawson becomes embroiled in the mission to snatch him back. But the more Dawson discovers about Elysian Fields, the more he comes to realise there’s a huge gulf between what we’re being told and reality. In the spaces between the two, absolutely everything changes.

17 DAYS

Yes, I know… I’ve finished this book twice already, but I’ve still not got it quite right. I had a rollercoaster year last year, and in the midst of all the ups and downs, I’ve realised where I was going wrong. Mark Thane is a downtrodden and overlooked nobody. When he discovers he only has 17 days left to live, he’s forced to question everything. The country is on the verge of revolution, and Mark unwittingly finds himself at the eye of the storm. This time last week no one knew who Mark Thane was. By the time his number’s up, the entire world will be watching his every move.

FOCUS

A sick and twisted love story. Adam’s wife died last summer. He’s not going to let it happen again.

So there you go. Plenty of work ahead. Add to this more signing events and the continued expansion of the Infected empire (Infected Films and Infected Audio, anyone?) and that’s more than enough to keep me busy. I hope you’ll stick around, because 2015 is going to be a cracker!

Happy New Year! is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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Joe & Me – download and listen NOW!

The free audio version of JOE & ME is now available. Click here to listen and/or download. Happy Christmas from me, This is Horror and Infected Books! Please share far and wide!

Joe is anything but an ordinary eight year old. His father’s a stay-at-home dad and his mom’s going to save the world.

Forced to live in cramped quarters after the military pull funding on his mother’s research, Joe is thrown into the midst of a race against the clock to save mankind. As tensions rise and the family disintegrates, they must face an uncomfortable ultimatum.

Do they save each other or humanity?

We’ll be following up this release early in 2015 with a unique LIVE This is Horror podcast. If you have any questions you’d like me to answer on air, please email them to Michael@thisishorror.co.uk.

I hope you enjoy JOE & ME. I had a lot of fun writing and recording it. In case you’re unaware, the story explains a pivotal piece of the overall AUTUMN story. It appears in the 2013 edition of AUTUMN: THE HUMAN CONDITION, and using the discount code thisishorrorjoeandme (original, eh?!), you can order a signed copy of the limited edition hardcover direct from Infected Books for just £10, with free UK delivery (RRP £20).

Finally, as this will probably be my last post here for a while, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and enthusiasm over the past year, and to wish you and your families all the best for the holiday season.

Joe & Me – download and listen NOW! is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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A free Christmas audiobook – Joe & Me

I’m excited to announce the release of a free JOE & ME audiobook. A joint production between This is Horror and Infected Books, and narrated by yours truly, it’ll be free to download from 2pm GMT on Tuesday 23 December. Happy Christmas!

And if you enjoy the story, why not help yourself to a festively-priced (£10 plus free delivery in the UK)  copy of the limited edition hardcover edition of AUTUMN: THE HUMAN CONDITION? Simply head over to www.infectedbooks.co.uk, add the book to your cart and use code thisishorrorjoeandme at checkout.

JOE & ME is a story I’m extremely proud of. It’s a great little tale that offers a very personal glimpse into the early hours of the world-wide chaos which unfolds throughout the AUTUMN series. I’ll tell you more about it on Tuesday…

A free Christmas audiobook – Joe & Me is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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Recommended Reading – The Last Plague

Today I want to recommend THE LAST PLAGUE to you – the debut novel from Rich Hawkins. I’ve known Rich for a number of years now, and it’s been great to see him fulfil his writing ambitions. When we first met, I signed a book for him in Lowestoft (I think). This year, he signed a book for me!

By the way, completely coincidentally, Rich recently interviewed me for his blog. You can find the piece online here.

THE LAST PLAGUE (available now from Crowded Quarantine) is a nasty, blood-soaked door-stop of a book which features more grotesques and mutilations than I ever thought possible to fit into five hundred pages. It’s relentlessly bleak and vicious, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Here’s the synopsis. Click the link below for a few thoughts from Rich.

A pestilence has fallen across the land. Run and hide. Seek shelter. Do not panic. The infected WILL find you.

When Great Britain is hit by a devastating epidemic, four old friends must cross a chaotic, war-torn England to reach their families. But between them and home, the country is teeming with those afflicted by the virus – cannibalistic, mutated monsters whose only desires are to infect and feed.

THE LAST PLAGUE is here.

I asked Rich about his literary influences, and he told me they included “HP Lovecraft, Gary McMahon, Wayne Simmons, yourself, Tim Curran, Adam Nevill and Conrad Williams. I first became interested in horror after watching John Carpenter’s THE THING when I was a kid. I’m a big fan of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction.”

So what’s on the horizon for Mr H? “My future plans involve the release of my novella BLACK STAR, BLACK SUN to be published by April Moon Books early next year. Voodoo Press have picked up THE LAST PLAGUE to be translated into German. And I’m currently writing the sequel, which is set in Britain a few months after the initial outbreak.”

Once again, I’m very pleased to recommend Rich Hawkins’ THE LAST PLAGUE. Written in a sparse, staccato style, and with a cast of strong characters and an unending torrent of body horror, it’s one of the most intriguing post-apocalyptic novels I’ve read in a long time.

Find out more about Rich and his work here.

Recommended Reading – The Last Plague is a post from: David Moody - author of AUTUMN and HATER

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